Vintage Gaming and Computer Systems

Since I started collecting the antique computers and vintage video games from my childhood, I have found it difficult to find detailed, comprehensive information about the systems. Though there are a few good sites out there for each system, none have information on all of the accessories or games I have amassed.

That's why I decided to build my own website, using information I have gathered for the systems, games and accessories in my own collection. However, like everyone else's info, it is not all-encompassing for each system, but it is all encompassing for my personal collection and should not be considered a complete list of games, hardware and accessories for these systems.

The goal of this site is to share my joy and excitement for collecting retro gaming technology and foster a community of like-minded individuals. Also to open up a venue for trading and expanding each other's systems through trading and sharing through this blog.

If there is anything I have missed in any of my descriptions, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will update the page. Or if there is a system I have not chronicled from the 1970s and 1980s that you feel I should, drop me a line and I will do my best to add the systems to my collection and add info for them on this site.

My retro tech collection is huge and it will take me some time to list all that I have here. I will try to add a new computer system or video game console every week or so.

- Erik Schubach

Why do I collect vintage technology?

When I was a kid, my father was into electronics and wanted to make sure that his children embraced new technology. He believed that computers were the future. He didn't realize how right he was.

I was already addicted to video games in the arcade. Almost every bit of money I came into went into those wonderful machines. In 1979, I had saved up enough money to buy the first handheld video game system that had interchangeable cartridges... the Microvision. I received 2 cartridges for it for Christmas that year. I now own four Microvisions, one still factory sealed.

My father bought me my first computer in 1982, a Timex Sinclair 1000 and a programmer's guide. I hooked it up to our television and a cassette tape recorder then wrote my first BASIC program. I still distinctly remember the magical feeling of watching the program "I" wrote running for the very first time. And to top it all off, you could buy games for the Sinclair on cassette tape.

From that point on, computers were my life! My brother and I saved up and bought our first Commodore 64 with an external disk drive. Wow! I could save my programs on a floppy disk and load them whenever I wanted to at speeds that were blindingly fast compared to tape drive. It was at this point that I wrote my first big program, a text adventure game, Granite Caverns (You are in a cavern with passages leading north and south, which way do you go?)... weighing in at a whopping 32k.

The game cartridges for the Commodore 64 were just about as good as in the arcade, with a big benefit over the Atari systems of the day as not only was it a gaming system, but you had a fully functional computer system to boot. The Commodore 64 was a real treasure.

I was totally amazed when we purchased our first 300 baud modem and were able to connect with other computers through the phone line. How Buck Rogers was that? We could look at information on the local BBS systems and even play text based games on them. It was almost mind blowing!

I couldn't get enough... my brother and I saved up enough money to get a Commodore SX-64 portable color computer. This was the Holy Grail of all that was computery and good in the world (Yes I made up the word computery). Even today, the SX-64 is my favorite computer ever. I now own three SX-64's, one still in it's original box, and I'm still wanting more.

Moving from computer system to computer system and gaming console to gaming console, I worked my way up the chain. The draw of computers and video games had so completely ingrained itself into my life that I became a programmer by profession with decades of experience.

I have never really moved on from being that wide-eyed youngster playing with those old systems. I have amassed quite a collection of vintage computers and game systems from my youth.

Little did I know back then, but typing "run" for the very first time on my Timex Sinclair in 1982 sealed my fate.

- Erik Schubach

The Stockpile

Select an antique home computer system or vintage gaming device from my personal collection below to view detailed information on that system and all of the accessories and games I have for it.

Groundbreaking Board Games

The term Vintage Gaming doesn't just apply to electronic video games... as I was growing up, there were a number of board games that had the "geek factor" that influenced my life. I think the following board games deserve an honorable mention here due to either mechanical or electronic aspects that set them in a separate category from all other board games.